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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Ngaio Marsh Award giveaway - and the winner is...

Over the past few weeks here on Crime Watch, the Ngaio Marsh Award Facebook page, and elsewhere, we have been running a giveaway where one lucky reader, from anywhere in the world, would win all eight of the longlisted Kiwi-written crime/thriller novels eligible for the 2011 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel.

It was great to see a very good number of entries rolling in, from several countries around the world, considering there was a bit of a hurdle to entry: taking a photo of yourself reading a New Zealand-written crime, mystery, thriller or suspense novel. You can see many of the entries in the "Reading Kiwi Crime Fiction" photo album on the Ngaio Marsh Award Facebook page. It's interesting to see which books and authors cropped up the most too. Vanda Symon and Paul Cleave were particularly popular, but others such as Neil Cross, Ngaio Marsh, Alix Bosco and Donna Malane all had multiple representations too.

The draw was made on Saturday, the day before the Setting the Stage for Murder event in Christchurch (and presentation of the award to Paul Cleave for BLOOD MEN), and I'm very pleased to announce the winner is: Lisa Smith of Northcote, New Zealand, who took a photo of herself reading Paula Morris's HIBISCUS COAST (see above). Congratulations Lisa - your fantastic prize pack is on its way to you.

When the random draw picked out Lisa's photo, I did have to chuckle a little - because that was the only entry that surprised me when it came in, in terms of the books people were reading. I'd never realised that Paula Morris had written a thriller - but on closer inspection HIBISCUS COAST is a tale revolving around art forgery and a heroine on the run from dangerous people, so there you go.

You learn something new... as they say. I'll have to add the book to my bibliographical list (see above).

Congratulations to Lisa. For everyone else, thanks so much for sending your entries in. Keep your eyes peeled for another giveaway in the very near future. And in the meantime, if you're on Facebook, head to the Ngaio Marsh Award Facebook page and click 'like', if you haven't already. Thanks.